Harris Original Land Patent Holder - Doubleday

Land patents are explained in the Mott post about John McDermid. 

The first person to claim this parcel from the U.S. government  was Demas Abner Doubleday 1786-1862 of Otsego Co., New York in 1839. No surprise for yet another New York resident taking advantage of cheap land prices of $1.25 an acre to engage in land speculation. 

Conceivably Demas may have visited this land, but the family isn’t mentioned in historical records of Alamo Township. However it is his sons who enter the annals of Kalamazoo history, but not as farmers. Any baseball fans out there? One of his sons, Lt. Abner D. Doubleday is rumored to have been the inventor of baseball! It is a disputed rumor so will only get mention. His role in Kalamazoo is of more significance.

The sons of Demas formed Doubleday & Bros Co. in 1898 in Kalamazoo, an office supply company. Lt. Abner D. Doubleday 1829-1903 is buried in Riverside Cemetery with his wife Maria Ruby. 

In 1873 the plat map shows the property owned by John Harris. Ass to when ownership was actually transferred can be determined thru examination of the land records. That requires a visit to the Kalamazoo County Registrar of Deeds and lessening of the current raging pandemic.